Silent Lab is the name of an ambitious Czech installation featuring this
year at Expo 2015 in Milan, which begins later this spring. The
installation, which brought together students at the technical university
in Prague (ČVUT) students of architecture and the company Full Capacity,
recreates the experience of the Czech forest, combining Nature and
hi-tech.

“The basic idea is about the atmosphere in a typical Czech wood, which
has a certain character and atmosphere and we wanted visitors of EXPO
2015,
many of whom will not have experienced it, a chance of seeing it. We also
wanted to give them a chance to interact with the woods and the
surroundings.”

Whose ideas was it initially and what is the role played by Full Capacity?

“The original idea was that of two students at ČVUT, David Sivý and
Jan Tůma. They came up with the basic concept. Our company came on board
to prepare the project for the competition to be featured at EXPO, which
we
won. Now we are at the point when the whole project has come together and
Full Capacity is responsible for the realization of the whole
installation.”

What are the main components which create the atmosphere of the woods or
forest, giving the feeling of being there?

“The most important is definitely the living biotope from the Czech
woods, plants and so on typical for the Czech forest. This is something
which we set up under very specific conditions: an artificial planting
mechanism, you could say, which is automated to water the plants, to
adjust
the humidity and light and so on, to ensure that everything lives and
grows.

“The other thing is that we are using robotic arms and hands and cameras
and interactive systems to allow visitors to interact with the
installation. If they stop their activity, if they become quiet at a
specific spot in the installation, suddenly the big projection screen
which
is around the biotope and around the visitors begins to go into details.
They begin to see much more…”

So a close-up?

“It is more than that: it goes below the surface. You zoom in until you
get to the microscopic level. There are two points in the display where
one
person at a time can get that experience, while the others around get a
sense of the overall forest. Interactivity for more, mass interaction, is
a
very difficult concept and it is very hard to make that function. So the
others have a strong feeling of the woods, through sights and sounds and
even the smell of the forest.”

You mention the olfactory element: is there a specific time when it is
recommended to visit for the best effect?

Silent Lab, photo: archive of Full CapaCity
“Yes, there definitely is, just after the installation opens in the
morning. The reason is because we reversed day and night for the biotope
so
that overnight the plants get light while during the day the room is
darker. That means when there are no visitors they photosynthesize. So if
you are the first in the morning, you probably get the strongest olfactory
experience.”

It sounds fairly complex: is there any one aspect which was harder to
engineer than the others?

“Actually, the complexity is in all the ‘moving parts’ – getting
everything coordinated to work smoothly together. There are three very
different demands from three different aspects: you have the biotope
itself, then the robotic machines, and finally the visitors. Getting all
three to work seamlessly together was the hard part.”

To come back to the idea: this kind of screen (a kind of cornerstone
towards virtual reality) has become a mainstay of science fiction from Ray
Bradbury to the director’s cut of Aliens, where this kind of wall is
featured on a space station… Philosophical, do you see the installation
more as an invitation for visitors to come to the Czech Republic or is
there also a different message as well, a reminder that we should
appreciate Nature which is under greater and greater assault?

“Definitely both things which you mentioned are a motivation or the
philosophy of the concept of the installation. The third thing, which is
very positive, is that we want to show that the Czech Republic is a
technological and innovative country which can succeed in such a complex
task as taking and maintaining part of its cultural or in this case
natural
heritage in artificial conditions. The fact that we can already do
something like this, I think, is amazing. There are ‘problematic’
aspects such as post-apocalyptic visions, but overall I think that we can
do this is very, very positive.”

What happens to the pavilion after EXPO wraps up at the end of the year?

“There are some preliminary negotiations at the moment. Our hope is that
at least part of the installation would remain permanently but that is
still at the beginning so for the moment I cannot say more.”

Silent Lab, photo: archive of Full CapaCityYou touched upon it at the beginning: many Czechs do love the outdoors,
they are known for mushroom picking, they like camping… How do you
explain the kind of passion that Czechs have for Nature and being outside?

“Well I think most nations love their own countryside and in the Czech
Republic we have woods, we don’t have a sea! (laughs). For example, in
the
Czech Republic, woods are a public space – even if you own a stretch of
the forest, you cannot fence the area in. It remains there for everybody.
For us, walking in the woods is as natural as someone who lives by the sea
going for a swim.”